2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court election

Wisconsin supreme court election, 2011

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Nominee David Prosser, Jr. JoAnne Kloppenburg Party Independent Independent Popular vote 750,804 743,487 Percentage 50.2% 49.8%

Red counties represent wins by Prosser, and blue counties represent wins by Kloppenburg. The darker the shading, the higher the margin of victory for that particular candidate.

Justice before election David Prosser, Jr. Independent Elected Justice David Prosser, Jr. Independent

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election of 2011 took place on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Unlike past elections for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the race between 12-year incumbent David Prosser, Jr. and challenger Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg gained significant nationwide publicity as it was widely seen as a referendum on Governor Scott Walker's proposed budget reforms in Wisconsin, and a part of the 2011 Wisconsin protests.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Labor organizations and tea party groups explicitly making the connection^[10][11] while Governor Walker himself stating it was not.^[12] On Tuesday, April 5, one seat in the Wisconsin Supreme Court was up for election. The court currently has a conservative majority of 4-2-1 with Prosser identifying as a conservative and the seventh justice^[13] considered a swing vote. Both candidates stated their unhappiness with the increasingly partisan nature of the race.^[14]

As the race became increasingly nationalized, Prosser was endorsed by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.^[15] Kloppenburg was endorsed by Prosser's campaign co-chairman and former Governor Patrick Lucey, who resigned from the post as he made the announcement.^[16]

On April 6, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, with 100% of precincts reporting and absentee ballots all tallied, had Kloppenburg maintaining a 204 vote lead.^[17] Recanvassing began the next day to verify to election results, and errors were found in counties favoring both contestants; Prosser gained votes from Winnebago and Waukesha, while Kloppenburg regained ground from a scattering of other counties, including Grant, Portage, Door, Iowa, Rusk, Vernon, and Shawano.^[18] A news conference on April 7, held by the County Clerk of Waukesha County reported the existence of errors in Brookfield, Wisconsin where votes were never submitted to the Waukesha County total due to human error and that Prosser had picked up a 7,500-vote margin over Kloppenburg in the county as a result. In response, the Kloppenburg campaign filed an Open Records request for the contact records of the Waukesha County Clerk and a request was filed with the region's US Attorney to impound the additional ballots.^[19]

As of April 8, 2011, Waukesha County's turnout was officially 47% (increased from 42% before the correction).^[20] Statewide turnout during the election was officially 33%. On election day, Deputy Clerk Gina Kozlik had estimated turnout in the county to be 20-25%,^[21] with up to 35% turnout in some polling locations within the county.^[22] Nate Silver of Fivethirtyeight.com did an analysis on the turnout numbers and found the Waukesha results to be in line with previous elections.^[23] An independent investigation into the actions of Waukesha County Clerk found probable cause to believe that she violated the state law requiring county clerks to post all returns on Election Night, but concluded that the violation was not willful and therefore did not constitute criminal misconduct.^[24]

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board announced on April 8 that they were sending voting officials to Waukesha County to confirm the 14,315 votes that were found to never have been submitted from Brookfield.^[25] On April 15, Prosser was named the official winner by 7,316 votes after all county canvassing was completed.^[26] On April 20, Kloppenburg asked for a recount. The recount began on Wednesday, April 27 and must finish by May 9.^[27]

At the end of May 9, all Wisconsin counties aside from Waukesha had completed their recount process. In response, a Dane County judge gave them an extension until May 26 to complete the recount process. It was reported that Waukesha County was counting only one ward at a time and, on May 9, moved to a larger area in the Waukesha County courthouse in order to count two wards at one time. This is much slower than the rest of the counties, adjacent Milwaukee County reportedly counted eight wards simultaneously. Waukesha County reportedly took extra steps to ensure all votes were counted correctly.^[28]

On May 20, the recount was completed across the state with Prosser leading by 7,006 votes.^[29] On May 23, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board confirmed Prosser won the election.^[30]